The week’s odd news: Minnesota farmer creates granddaddy of a snowman

GILMAN, Minn. – A Minnesota farmer has created a towering tribute to winter’s excess.

Greg Novak says he’s invested hundreds of hours to build a 50-foot snowman named “Granddaddy” that he hopes will wake onlookers from their winter doldrums. And he admits it has some neighbors questioning his sanity.

Granddaddy began to take shape earlier this winter when the Gilman farmer needed to move mounting snow piles away from his greenhouses.

“As long as you’re moving it, might as well do something practical with it,” Novak said.

Friends and family pitched in to help with Granddaddy, or to do farm chores while Novak worked on building the snowman. Novak used skid loaders to pile snow and a silage blower to direct snow into stacked cylinders, the St. Cloud Times reported.

Gerald and Diane Harbarth were among the amused onlookers March 2. They drove more than 70 miles from Brownton to get a look at the mammoth snowman.

The Harbarths learned about Granddaddy on a television news report, but craning their necks to see it in person was something else entirely.

“This is unreal,” Gerald Harbarth said.

For Novak, that was the whole point of creating Granddaddy.

“It puts a smile on people’s faces,” Novak said. “When people smile, you know you’ve done a good thing.”

Granddaddy is but a mere child compared to efforts in the small community of Bethel, Maine, in 2008. Residents there claim the world record for the tallest snowperson, a 122-foot snowwoman named Olympia after the state’s then-U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe.

Blind man, 47, survives track fall as L.A. train arrives

LOS ANGELES — A blind man fell onto the tracks at a subway station as a train was arriving March 6, but he escaped unharmed by lying flat as the cars screeched to a halt above him, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority said.

The train “ran over the man but didn’t touch him, thank God,” L.A. Metro spokesman Paul Gonzales said. “In my view this is a miraculous occurrence. The man is exceedingly lucky to be alive.”

The 47-year-old Los Angeles man fell from the platform at the Wilshire and Vermont station in the city’s Koreatown neighborhood as a Red Line train was approaching.

The train operator blew its horn, but by the time he could stop the train, the second car had passed over the man, Gonzales said.

The man, whose identity was not released, had “no obvious injuries” and was not touched by the train, but he was taken to a hospital as a precaution, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman said.

This is at least the third time since September 2012 that a train on the Red Line has passed over a person. In the other two instances, the people were seriously injured.

LaughFest organizers claim new sunglasses record

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — There appears to be another arcane world record in Grand Rapids, this time for the most people wearing sunglasses at night.

Gilda’s LaughFest organizers in the past three years have overseen record-setting attempts for donning false mustaches, wearing chicken beaks and tossing rubber chickens.

The fourth annual festival of laughter kicked off March 6 with an effort to break the sunglasses record. Participants received official bright yellow LaughFest sunglasses.

Guinness World Records says the current mark was set in July 2012 by 1,642 people at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. LaughFest spokesman Tyler Lecceadone said the group’s count shows that 1,675 people wore sunglasses it its event.

“We had a seriously fun time at this year’s world record attempt,” said Wendy Wigger, president of LaughFest and of Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids. “It was great to see the growing community support and excitement surrounding the fourth year of LaughFest. It was the perfect to kick off the 2014 festival. We thank all of the participants who came out and donned sunglasses to help us break the world record. “

In 2013, 1,532 people at LaughFest put on false mustaches to set the Guinness World Record for the most people wearing fake mustaches at a single venue.

Gilda’s LaughFest runs through March 16. It honors the memory of comedian Gilda Radner, who died of ovarian cancer in 1989.

Wake up, smell the bacon ... with bacon app

MADISON — Want to wake up to the sound of bacon sizzling on the stove with its aroma drawing you out of bed?

There’s an app for that.

Oscar Mayer says it has created a bacon-scented app for the iPhone, developed by the Madison company’s Institute for the Advancement of Bacon.

The company says that to emit a small puff reminiscent of bacon, the user needs an external device that plugs into the headphone jack. The app itself produces the sound of bacon sizzling in a pan.

Oscar Mayer says the aroma-producing device won’t be sold in stores and that quantities are limited. The company is now giving away 4,700 devices.

Oscar Meyer is part of Kraft Foods Group Inc., of Glenview, Ill.

Dog helps man save woman in icy Nebraska lake

LINCOLN, Neb. — A woman who fell through the ice after pulling her dog from a frigid Lincoln lake was quickly repaid, when her pet helped rescuers get her the rope that helped save her life.

Steve Dye and Ray Frana, who work for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, were checking the Holmes Lake dam around 10:30 a.m. March 5 when they noticed a dog out on the ice, next to a hole. As they got nearer the site, they saw a woman was in the hole, splashing.

They grabbed a robe from their vehicle, but soon discovered it wasn’t long enough to reach her.

The men said that while Dye called 911 for help, Frana crawled out onto the ice, carrying the rope. The dog went to Frana, who tucked one rope end under the dog's collar. The woman then called the dog to her. She grabbed the rope, and then Frana pulled her out of the hole. They all soon reached safety back on shore, 40 feet away.

The woman was warming up in the men's truck by the time paramedics arrived. Lincoln Fire and Rescue Capt. Randy Case said the woman was taken to a hospital as a precaution. It was unclear how long she'd been in the water.

She said she broke through the ice after helping her dog out of the frigid lake.

Dye and Frana — with the help of the dog — probably saved the woman's life, Case said.

Gambler sues casino, says he lost $500,000 playing drunk

LAS VEGAS — A man who lost $500,000 playing table games at a Las Vegas casino on Super Bowl weekend is trying to get his money back because he was too drunk.

Southern California retiree Mark Johnston is suing the Downtown Grand for loaning him money and allowing him to play while he was blackout drunk.

Nevada law bars casinos from allowing visibly drunk patrons to gamble and from serving them comped drinks.

Johnston’s attorney, Sean Lyttle, says the Downtown Grand, which opened in November in the old part of Las Vegas, is countersuing Johnston for trying to shirk his gambling debts. Johnston put a stop-payment order on the markers, or casino credits, the Grand issued, and is also seeking damages from the Grand for sullying his name.

Johnston says he was thoroughly drunk during the hours he spent playing pai gow and blackjack at the Grand.

A Grand spokeswoman said the company does not comment on pending litigation.

The state Gaming Control Board is investigating.

“It’s certainly an extraordinary case,” Lyttle said. “This is not a story that I’ve ever heard before, where someone was blackout intoxicated where they couldn’t read their cards, and yet a casino continued to serve them drinks and issue them more markers. It’s a very heavy-handed and unusual approach that we haven’t seen in this town in a long time.”

The Super Bowl was Feb. 2. Johnston says he didn’t sober up and learn how much he had lost until March 2.

Oscar pizza delivery man gets $1,000 tip

LOS ANGELES — The pizza delivery man who fed stars at the Oscars on March 2 received a best tip award for a supporting player: $1,000 in cash handed over by ceremony host Ellen DeGeneres.

That included money collected from A-list celebrities who chowed down on the pies during the ceremony Sunday and from DeGeneres herself.

Edgar Martirosyan received the tip during a visit March 3 to “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” DeGeneres said she passed Pharrell Williams’ oversized hat at the Oscars and collected about $600, then contributed more.

The Big Mama’s & Papa’s delivery guy said he had already gotten a reward: serving Julia Roberts, whom he called the woman of his dreams.

DeGeneres received her own Oscars spiff. Her talk show’s producer, Telepictures Productions, says the March 3 episode was the highest-rated in the series’ 11-year history.

Graduation cap ads net student $5,400

FLINT, Mich. — A University of Michigan-Flint senior has taken a chunk out of his tuition debt by selling ad space on his graduation cap.

The Flint Journal reports Alex Benda, 22, has raised $5,400 as of March 6.

Benda is looking to rent as much of the 100 square inches of space on his graduation cap as he can before walking across the stage to receive his degree at Perani Arena on May 4.

The idea is to cut down on his $30,000 student loan debt. The pledges so far have come from 45 backers on Benda’s GoGetFunding project web page.

The yield already has exceeded Benda’s expectations. He figured he would raise a few hundred dollars, primarily from family.

Principal rides into gym for reading event

THOMAS TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A principal who wanted to get his students fired up about reading greeted them on horseback for an assembly in the school’s gym.

The Saginaw News reports that Swan Valley Middle School Principal Brad Erlenbeck on Feb. 28 dressed in a Spartan costume and rode in with a sword held high.

His entrance drew cheers and laughter. It was all to rally kids for the March into Reading Month challenge to read 100,000 pages as a school.

Students are competing against one another and the staff, and whichever grade reads the most pages in March earns a half-day of recess.

The school is in Saginaw County’s Thomas Township, 85 miles northwest of Detroit. Erlenbeck says: “If you want to get the kids excited, you’ve got to be a little zany yourself.”

India students expelled for cheering for Pakistan in cricket

LUCKNOW, India — Dozens of Kashmiri students who cheered for the Pakistani cricket team during a match against India could face sedition charges, police said Thursday.

Authorities were trying to track down the 66 university students for questioning, police officer N.K.S. Chauhan said. The students were expelled and kicked out of their dorms after Sunday’s televised cricket match, in which India lost to Pakistan, Chauhan said.

Sedition carries a possible life sentence. Calls to the College of Swami Vivekanand Subharti University, in Uttar Pradesh state, were not returned March 6.

Nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India have fought three major wars since they became independent in 1947, two of them over Kashmir, a divided Himalayan territory that both countries claim. Kashmiri insurgents have been fighting for its independence or its merger with Pakistan since 1989.

India is a cricket-crazy nation, but some Kashmiris refuse to support the Indian team because of deep resentment over Indian rule.

Omar Abdullah, the top elected official in the Indian portion of Kashmir, said on Twitter that the students did not deserve to have charges of sedition brought against them, saying such a move would ruin their future and further alienate them.

Airline: Iraq stops landing over official’s son

BEIRUT — Iraqi authorities on March 6 denied permission to a plane belonging to Lebanon’s national carrier to land in Baghdad after a son of an Iraqi minister missed the flight, Middle East Airline said in a statement.

In Baghdad, Ali Musawi, the adviser to Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said the premier ordered those behind the decision to force the Middle East Airline plane to turn back to Beirut fired. He also formed a committee to investigate and ordered the passengers involved to be flown to Iraq aboard an Iraqi Airways flight for free.

A Middle East Airline plane scheduled to leave Beirut on Thursday at 12:46 p.m.was delayed for six minutes because of a missing passenger. The Beirut airline identified the missing passenger as a son of Iraq’s Transport Minister Hadi Ameri.

Twenty minutes after the plane’s departure, the head of Middle East Airline in Baghdad contacted the pilot, saying that Iraqi authorities would not allow the plane to land at Baghdad International Airport without Ameri’s son on board. The plane, carrying 71 passengers, returned to Beirut.

Ameri’s adviser said the Middle East Airline plane turned back because of maintenance work on the runway.

Ex-magistrate censured in Messiah name change case

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A former Tennessee magistrate who changed a baby’s first name from Messiah to Martin has been censured.

Lu Ann Ballew said at the time that Messiah was a title held only by Jesus Christ. Ballew’s attorneys have argued that she was acting in the child’s best interest because having the name Messiah could make his life difficult.

Board of Judicial Conduct Disciplinary Counsel Tim Discenza said that a panel of the board meeting in Dandridge heard the case on March 3 and voted unanimously for a public censure. Discenza said that is probably the most serious sanction the board could take against Ballew, given that she already lost her position as a magistrate.

The decision for which Ballew was censured came in August, when Jalessa Martin and Jawaan McCullough appeared before Ballew at a child support hearing in Newport about their 7-month-old son, Messiah Martin. As part of the hearing, the father requested the baby’s last name be changed to McCullough.

Ballew surprised both parents by ordering that the baby’s name change to Martin McCullough. Ballew’s decision was overturned in chancery court a month later, and both parents agreed to name the baby Messiah McCullough.

Police: Intoxicated couple denied pizza try to firebomb eatery

EUGENE, Ore. — A man and a woman refused service at a pizza shop because they were intoxicated came back later and tried to set the shop on fire as employees huddled in the basement, police say.

Frightened employees at Whirled Pies had called 911 late March 3 when the man and woman returned and the man started pounding on the front door, which employees had locked.

Police spokeswoman Melinda McLaughlin says that before officers arrived, the man broke the glass in the front door and the pair came in. By that time employees had moved to the basement. McLaughlin says the man and woman used a window curtain as a wick to light some homemade “moonshine” they were carrying, then tossed the blazing liquid into the business.

The Grand Rapids Press reports that the City Commission is nixing a 38-year-old section of city code that states “no person shall willfully annoy another person.”

City Attorney Catherine Mish recommended repealing the language, saying the wording is “unconstitutional in terms of being vague” and “simply unenforceable.” A final decision was expected March 11.

Even with the change, related crimes such as obstructing someone in a public place or assault would still be on the books.

Mish has been scouring city code to find archaic rules.

Last year, rules that got a look included one prohibiting people from riding horses on a sidewalk and another allowing jail time for failing to return a library book.

Burl poachers plague California redwoods

Unemployment and drug addiction have spurred an increase in cutting off the knobby growths at the base of ancient redwood trees to make decorative pieces like lacy-grained coffee tables and wall clocks.

The destructive practice — known as burl poaching — has become so prevalent along the Northern California coast that Redwood National and State Parks on Saturday started closing the popular Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway at night in an attempt to deter thieves.

Law enforcement Ranger Laura Denny said March 4 that poachers have been stalking the remote reaches of the park with chainsaws and ATVs for decades, but lately the size and frequency of thefts have been on the rise.

“When I interview suspects, that is the (reason) they say: their addiction to drugs and they can’t find jobs,” she said.

Jobs are hard to come by since the timber and commercial fishing industries went into decline.

“Originally there were 2 million acres of old-growth forest that spanned the coast of Northern California from Oregon to Monterey,” said Denny’s husband, Jeff, the park district interpretation supervisor. “Over the past 150 years, 95 percent of that original forest has been cut. The only remaining old-growth forest in existence now is almost entirely within the Redwood national park” and some state parks.

A redwood tree can survive the practice, but the legacy of the organism that could be 1,000 years old is threatened, because the burl is where it sprouts a clone before dying. Sprouting from burls is the prevalent method of redwood propagation, he added.